American Society for Microbiology urges caution following lab salmonella outbreak

The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) recently published a reminder about safety practices for microbiology labs following a July 2017 outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium associated with clinical and teaching microbiology labs.

The outbreak infected 24 people infected in 16 states. The same strain of Salmonella Typhimurium previously caused lab-associated outbreaks in 2014 and 2011.

Following the 2011 outbreak, members of the ASM Task Committee on Laboratory Safety developed a set of resources with guidelines for safety in labs.

Laboratorians reported behaviors that increased their risk of infection including not wearing gloves or lab coats, not properly washing hands and using notebooks and pens both in and outside of the lab. These practices may have carried bacterium outside the lab.

“Well-developed biosafety practices are especially important in the clinical microbiology lab, where each patient sample is an unknown, and the risk of lab-acquired infections is particularly high…” ASM said. “Constantly assessing and mitigating potential risks to laboratorians helps foster a culture of safe practices.”

ASM noted that needle sticks, aerosol inhalation and back-splash incidents could all lead to infection. The post from ASM also highlighted a recently published book Biological Safety: Principles and Practices (5th Edition), which contain recommendations for improving biosafety practices. A chapter on clinical microbiology is available to read for free online until Sept. 21.